E423 
.B873 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

mil iiiii 



DDDD5DE3ni 



















0. %-*♦ ,*»K \/ 
































■ . . *, 




















-,. -.'■:;, :,:vi' •. .'* 

























































x° -, '.:&'& - - s °,> ---: >? ^ > %-W: o5 ^ -.€ 



































































































SPEECH 






n 



HON. A. G. BROWN, OF MISSISSIPPI, 



DELIVERED AT 



ELWOOD SPRINGS, NEAR PORT GIBSON, MISS., 

NOVEMBER 2, 185(1. 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE COMMITTEE. 



Mr. BROWN said : 

Fellow-Citizens: I shall speak to you to-day, not as Whigs, not 
as Democrats, but as citizens of a common country having a common 
interest and a common destiny. 

The events of the last ten months have precipitated a crisis in our 
public affairs which many of the wisest and sagest among us have 
fondly hoped was yet distant many long years. 

It is not my purpose to enter upon a critical review of the late most 
extraordinary conduct of the President and of Congress. I am not a.l 
liberty to suppose, that a people whose dearest rights have been the 
object of attack for ten months and more, have failed to keep themselves 
informed of the more prominent events as they have transpired. We 
ought, to-day, to inquire what is to be done in the future, rather than 
what has been done in the past. 

I confess my inability to counsel a great people as to the best mode 
of proceeding in an emergency like the present. Instead of imparting 
advice to others, I feel myself greatly in need of instruction. But, i 
will not on this account refuse to contribute an expression of my own 
best reflections, when, as in this instance, I am called upon to do so. 

To the end that you may clearly understand my conclusions, it will 
be necessary for me to present a brief summary of the events which 
have brought us to our present perilous condition. To go no further 
back than the last year, we shall find that in Mississippi, at least, the 
great body of the people were aroused to a sense of the impending 
danger. At a meeting assembled in the town of Jackson early in the 
last year, both Wliigs and Democrats united in an address to tin 
country, giving assurance that the time had come for action. 

Gentlemen of high character, of great popularity, and merited influ- 
ence, headed this meeting; a convention of the State was recommended, 
and every indication was given to the country that, in the judgment of 
these gentlemen, the time had actually come for bold and decisive 



^1* i 

action. This movement was seconded in almost every county in the 
State; and wherever the people assembled, delegates were appointed 
to a general State convention; and in every instance, so far as I am 
informed, these delegates were chosen from the two great political par- 
ties, one half Whigs and the other half Democrats. The contemplated 
convention assembled al Jackson, in October, and recommended a con- 
vention of the Southern States, to assemble al Nashville, at some future 
day, to be agreed upon among the States. The Mississippi movement 
was responded to with greal unanimity in several of our sister States — 
in Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. There 
seemed to be for a time, a very general and united sentiment in favor 
of the proposed convention ;it Nashville. The scheme was not without 
warm and influential friends in North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, 
Louisiana, and Texas. The other slaveholding States, to wit, Maryland, 
Kentucky, and Missouri, gave little or no indication of a disposition to 
favor it. " Early in the Autumn of 1849 some of the first friends of the 
Southern movement began to falter; and, as time advanced, they con- 
tinued to recede from their bold stand in defence of the South. The 
secret influences which were at work to produce these unhappy results, 
will be found, I apprehend, elsewhere than in the places now pointed 
out. We are now told by some, that they discovered a better state of 
feeling at the North toward the South. Others pretend to have been 
convinced that the movement was premature, and calculated to embar- 
rass the action of Congress ; whilst a much more numerous, and a 
much more dishonest class, pretend to have discovered that this con- 
vention was to be nothing less than an assemblage of conspirators, trea- 
sonably bent on the destruction of the Union. 

Whilst all this was going on, the sagacious politician and the man of 
thought did not fail to see the true reasons for all this infidelity to a once 
cherished and favorite measure. The truth was, that ambitious and aspir- 
ing politicians had discovered that the Southern movemenl was distasteful 
to General Taylor, General Cass, and other distinguished gentlemen, then 
high in the confidence of their respective parly friends. The movements 
in California began to develop the true policy of General Taylor, and 
the "Nicholson Letter" had received a new reading from General Cass. 
It became apparenl that the South musl be sacrificed, or party leaders 
repudiated, and party ties obliterated, and politicians had begun to take 
sides accordingly, when Congress assembled in December. I p t<> this 
time, however, there remained enough of Southern influence to keep a 
powerful phalanx of Southern nun closely allied for common defence. 
The effort to organize the House of Representatives, made it manifest, 
that the South meant something more than an idle bravado inthe course 
she had taken. For almost an entire month, tin- firsl successful Step m 
the election of a Speaker had not been taken; and at last, when .Mr. 
Cobb was chosen, it was by a plurality, and not, as usual, by a majority 

of the votes given. At this time, there was manifested the mosl deter- 
mined spirit in defence of the rights of the South. Still, the close ob- 
server could not fail to see that the insidious spirit of parts was busj at 
work. 

President Taylor transmitted his annual me Congress, and 

General Cass treated us to another reading of the "Nicholson letter." 



3 

'The President's message did not lift the curtain high enough to exhibit 
all that had been done in California. He gave us a bird's eye view, and 
told us to go it blind for the balance. He intimated that he had very 
little to do with the proceedings in California ; yet he presented a paper 
which he denominated the constitution of California; and in two several 
communications, he pressed the consideration of that paper upon Con- 
gress, and he earnestly recommended the admission of the State of Cal- 
ifornia into the Union at an early day. 

These proceedings, and these earnest recommendations, could not 
fail to elicit a searching investigation on die part of Southern members. 
It became a matter of interesting inquiry, as to who made the pretended 
constitution; how the people came to be assembled for that purpose ; 
who appointed the time for holding the elections; who decided on the 
qualification of voters: who decided that California had the requisite 
population to entitle her to one or more Representatives in Congress, 
without which she could not be a State. It was known that Congress 
had never so much as taken legal possession of the country, and it 
became a subject of anxious inquiry to know who it was that had kindly 
performed all the functions usually devolved on Congress ; who it was 
that, in aid of the legislative power of the country, had taken the census 
•to ascertain the population ; had passed upon the qualification of voters; 
had appointed the time, place, and manner of holding elections; who it 
was, in short, that had done all that had usually been required prepara- 
tory to the admission of a new State into the Union. 

It was seen at once, that no census had been taken; and although the 
Constitution required that the Representatives should be apportioned 
among the States according to population, no steps had been taken to 
ascertain whether California had the requisite population to entitle her 
to one member, whereas she was claiming two. It was seen that the 
time, place, and manner of holding the elections, had all been arranged 
by a military commander, notwithstanding the Constitution required that 
this should be done by law. It was seen, and admitted on all hands, 
that California was asking admission on terms wholly and entirely dif- 
ferent from those on which other States had made similar applications. 
Gentlemen favoring her admission, were wont to answer our objections 
with a shrug of the shoulders, and a lamb-like declaration that "there 
had been some irregularity." Irregularities, fellow-citizens! Shall con- 
duct like this, pass with that simple and mild expression that it was 
"irregular?" Was it nothing more than irregular to dispense entirely 
with taking a census? Was it only a little irregular to permit every- 
body to vote — white, black, and red; citizens, strangers, and foreigners? 
Was it simply irregular for General Riley, by a military proclamation, 
to decide the time, place, and manner of holding the elections? Was 
it, I ask you, fellow-citizens, nothing more than an irregular proceeding, 
for a military commander to dispense entirely with the authority of Con- 
gress, the law-making power, and of his own will to set up a government 
hostile to the interests and rights of the Southern States of (his Union? 
If the rights and interests of all the States had been respected, and all 
had concurred in the opinion that the proceeding had only been a little 
irregular, it might have been passed over with a mental protest against a 
recurrence of its like in future. 



But when it is seen that these " irregularities" amount to a positive 

outrage upon fourteen States of the Union, an outrage against which 
these States earnestly protested, it becomes us to inquire more seriously 
into the causes which led to their perpetration, and to take such decisive 
measures as shall protect as against like "irregularities" in future. 
Does any man doubt that slavery prohibition lay at the bottom of all the 
" irregularities" in California? 

Docs not every one know, that but for the question of slaver}', these 
unprecedented outrages would never have been perpetrated ? Is there 
a gentleman outside of a lunatic asylum who does not know that if Cali- 
fornia had framed a pro-slavery, instead of an anti-slavery constitution, 
her application for admission into the Union would have been instanta- 
neously rejected? And yet, in view of all these and a thousand other 
pregnant Vacts, we are expected to content ourselves with a simple 
declaration that "the proceeding was a little irregular, but it was t In- 
best that could be done." What, fellow-citizens, does this whole mattei 
amount to, as it now presents itself? The Southern people joined heart 
and hand in the acquisition of territory — shed their blood — laid down 
their lives — expended their treasure in making the acquisition, and forth- 
with the Federal authority was employed to exclude them from all par- 
ticipation in the common gain. The threat was uttered, and kept con- 
stantly hanging over them, that if they dared enter those Territories 
with their slave property, it would be taken from thern. Thus wen 
they intimidated and keptout of the country; no slave-owner would 
start to California with his slave property, when Congress was day l>\ 
day threatening to emancipate his negroes, if he dared to introduce them 
into that country. Not content with thus intimidating Southern property . 
the Federal power was employed in instigating an unauthorized people 
to do that which the Congress of the United States had not the power 
to do, to wit., to pass the "Wilmot proviso." 

It is well known thai the California constitution contains the " Wilmot 
proviso" in terms. It is equally well known that this proviso has | 
sanctioned by Congress, and that the sanction of Congress imparts to it 
its only \ ilafily. Without that sanction, it. is a nullity, a dead letter, an 

olute naught Who, then, is responsible for it but Congress — the 
( ngress which gave to it its sanction, and thereby imparted to it vitality, 
;ind moved ii into action? Congress, we me told, could not, and (hired 
not pass the proviso; but the people of California could propose it, and 
Congress could sanction it, and thereby give it existence. The people 
of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and" other States,mighl askCongress 
to pass the "Wilmot proviso," 1 bul Congress dare not do it, because 
there was no power under the Constitution to authorize it; but if the 

people of California asked it, then it was a very different question — then 

Congress bad all the constitutional power which the case required. Lei 
the truth be told. TheWilmol proviso was an old question; it had 
been discussed — its enormity had been exposed, and the mind of the 

South was lirmK and fixedly made up not to submit to its passage. It 
was accessary, therefore, to take this new track, and before the South 
could recover from ber surprise, pass the odious proviso, and then pre- 
sent the naked issue of a humiliating submission on the one sidi 
disunion on the other. 



Who, fellow-citizens, were these people of California, whose voice has 
been so potential in the work of your exclusion, your humiliation, and 
3^our disgrace? — were they American citizens'? No, sir, no! they were 
adventurers from all parts of the world. In this blood-bought country 
may have been found the Sandwich Islander, the Chinese, the European 
of every kingdom and country. That there were many American citi- 
zens in the country, is most true ; but the whole were mixed up together, 
and all voted in the work of your exclusion. How humiliating to a 
Southron, to see his own Government thus taking sides against him, and 
standing guard, while foreign adventurers vote to take from him his rights, 
and then to see that Government seizing hold of such a vote and hold- 
ing it up as a justification of the final act of his ignominious exclusion. 
Can any true son of the once proud and noble South witness these things 
without a blush ? Does patriotism require us to hug these outrages to 
our bosom? Must we forget our natural interests, and kiss the hand 
that inflicts these cruel blows ? Have we sunk so low that we dare not 
complain of wrongs like these, lest the cry of disunion shall be rung in 
oui ears? 

It would have been some consolation to know that the framers of this 
California constitution meant to five under it themselves. Even this 
little boon is denied us. We all know that the men who have gone 
to California are mere sojourners there ; they mean to stay a little while 
and then return to their homes in other parts of the world. Hundreds 
and thousands have already left the country, and others will follow their 
example. Not one half of the persons who aided in the formation of the 
so-called constitution of California are there now ; and in a year or two 
more the population will have undergone an entire revolution. 

We have heard that there were many hundred thousand people in 
California. The number in the country at the time the constitution was 
framed has been estimated at two hundred thousand or more, and this 
has been constantly urged in excuse lor their assumption of the right to 
make a constitution and set up an independent State government. 

When asked by what authority a few interlopers from abroad under- 
took to snatch from the right till owners the rich gold mines on the Pacific, 
and to appropriate to free^soil all that vast territory lying between the 
thirty-second and forty-second degrees of north latitude — embracing an 
area larger than the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and 
Alabama — we have been told they were a great and growing people; 
that there were a quarter of a million of inhabitants in the country, and 
hundreds of thousands on their way there. Let us examine the truth of 
these bold assertions. If there is any country on earth where there are 
no women and children, where the whole population consists of full- 
grown men, that country is California. We all know that the emigration 
has been confined to the adult male population, who have gone on a visit 
of observation, leaving their families and friends behind, and intending 
to return. We all know that in the matter of votingthere was no restric- 
tion; every male inhabitant over the age of twenty-one years was allowed 
to vote, and on the important question of adopting a State constitution, 
the poll-books showed less than thirteen thousand voters. If there was 
a quarter of a million of people in the country, how shall we account 
for this meagre vote? The fact is, this is but another link in the great 



8 

by eight majority ; on Friday they carried it over us by ten votes ; and 
when the result was announced, there went up from the lobbies, from the 
galleries, and from the floor of the Hall of Representatives, one long, 
loud, wild, maniac yell of unbridled rejoicing — the South was prostrate, 
and Free Soil rejoiced. The South was degraded, fallen, and her 
enemies rioted. Ten millions of dollars had been flung to the hungry pack 
who hang like wolves around the Treasury, and there was frantic joy in 
all their hearts and upon all their tongues. They assembled on the 
banks of the Potomac, and in utter defiance of every decent regard for 
the Father of his Country — they assembled under the very shade of the 
Washington Monument — and there fired a hundred guns. Thus did 
they, in manifestation of their wild rejoicing over the prostrate South, 
and their own clutching of the ten millions of dollars. Nor did they 
pause here, but with drums beating, fifes blowing, and banners stream- 
ing, they paraded the streets of Washington. They called out Mr. 
Clay, and he spoke to them ; they called out Mr. Cobb, Mr. Douglas, 
Mr. Foote, and I know not who else, and they all spoke to them. It 
was a night of riot and revelry. The foul deed had been done, and 
when there should have been sorrow and mourning, there was ecstasy 
and the wild notes of untamed rejoicing. 

I left the street, filled as it was with this motley crew of free negroes 
arid half-clad boys, bankers, brokers, barbers and beggars, Northern 
Frer-Soilers and Southern patriots — aye, southern patriots — patriots 
whose affections had outgrown their country, and who had taken "all 
the world and the rest of mankind " into their tender keeping — I left it 
and them, and retired to my private chamber, there to brood over the 
sorrows of my stricken and fallen country. But I was not long left to 
myself and the sorrows of my country. We were summoned to yet 
another sacrifice. The South no longer had the power of resistance, 
and a generous foe would not have stricken her again. But die Northern 
wolf had tasted blood. The Southern shepherd was unfaithful to his 
fiock, and another lamb was taken. 

The slave trade m the District of Columbia was abolished. It was by 
this name they called the deed. It was more than this. Jt was an act to 

punish the intentions of masters and to emancipate their slaves. The bill 

declares thai if slaves are broughl to the District of Columbia for the 

purpose of being sold in said District, or anywhere else, they shall be 
tree. The law does not punish the acl of selling or offering to sell, bur 
k punishes the intention to sell; and how, pray? Not by fining the 
master, or by sending him to prison, bul by emancipating his slave. 
How this Law is to operate in practice, I need net say. It is to all 
intents and purposes an ad of abolition. Under it, men's intentions will 
be judged of by swift juries, by abolition juries, and their slaves sel at 
liberty. Does any man doubt thai abolition juries will be found in the 
Distncl of Columbia, and in the city of Washington? There are in the 
Distrid sixteen thousand free negroes, and twenty-three hundred slaves. 
Slavery is wearing oul there) ana to-day, fellow-citizens, I would as soon 
risk a New York or Philadelphia jury on a question involving slavery, 
as a Washington cityjury. The people there are growingmore and 
more hostile to this species of property every day. and I pity the master 
who has his intentions tried before a jury taken from among them. 



9 

These, fellow-citizens, are the healing measures — the measures of 
peace. This the vaunted adjustment of which so much has been said, 
and for the passage of which the cannon has been fired, the drums beat, 
fifes blown, banners displayed, and all the evidences of national rejoicing 
exhibited. 

I cannot believe in the sincerity of these singular demonstrations. I 
cannot think that our ignominious exclusion from California affords cause 
for joy. I cannot believe that the bill to punish a master's intention, by 
emancipating his slave, has sent joy to Southern hearts. I do not believe 
that the dismemberment of Texas has filled the South with rejoicing. 
Men make up their minds to submit to wrong, and pride induces them 
to put the best possible face upon it. Men whose hearts are wrung with 
agony, will smile, because they are too proud to weep. Men, like boys, 
may whistle to keep their courage up. But when causes like these 
exist for mourning, it is useless to tell me that men with Southern hearts 
rejoice — the thing is impossible. 

I am told that Texas has not been dismembered. That, in the kindest 
spirit, the United States has proposed to pay her ten millions of dol- 
lars, to relinquish her claim to the territory which has been annexed to 
New Mexico. Let us examine the sincerity of this statement. The 
United States, speaking through the Executive, and through Congress, 
says to Texas: "We want this country, and we mean to have it; you 
are weak, and we are strong. Give up the country quietly, and we will 
pay you ten millions of dollars ; refuse, and here is the army, the navy, 
and the militia." Look at the power of the United States ; look at the 
threat of the President to reduce Texas to submission. Look at the 
conduct of Southern Senators and Representatives. Look at all this, 
and then turn your eyes towards Texas ; see her feeble and weak, with- 
out money, without arms ; in debt and without credit; and tell me if it 
is left to her free choice to determine whether she will accept or reject 
this proposition? The overgrown bully approaches a weak and feeble 
man, without friends and without the means of defence, and says, " I 
want your land ; give it up quietly, and I will pay you for it, and if you 
refuse, bear in mind, I am stronger than you, and here are my guns, 
here my daggers, and there my armed servants to do my bidding. 
Choose what you will do." Will not every man's sense of justice rev< >lt 
at conduct like this? Is the man thus treated, a free agent ? In thus taking 
his property, has not an outrageous wrong, a positive robbery, been perpe- 
trated? I leave it to the good sense of this audience to give the answer. 

But we arc told that Texas is to be liberally paid, and therefore, if she 
accepts the proposition and gives up the land, we have no just cause of 
complaint. I do not know whal sum of money would be liberal com- 
pensation to a sovereign Shite for being despoiled of oik- third of her 
territory. For myself, I would not eonseni to sell the pooresl county in 
Mississippi to the Free-Soil party for all the gold on this side of the At- 
lantic. But when T hear of the liberality of this proposition, ii Leads me 
to inquire who pays the money. We can nil afford to be liberal at the 
expense of other people. Do the Free-Soilers pay this ten millions of 
dollars? Not at all; they get the land, that's clear, and thai we pay the 
greater part, of the money is equally clear. The money is to be paid 
from the National Treasury. I am not about to launch into any discus- 



10 

sion of the finances, but I want to show who it is that must paythisten 
millions of dollars to Texas. Wo derive our national revenue chiefly 
from a duty Levied on goods imported into the eountry. Now,il will not 
be denied th;it these imports are nothing else than the proeeeds of the 
exports. It is perfectly clear that if we cul off the exports, we suspend 
the imports. If we have nothing to sell, we shall have nothing to buy 
with, and consequently imports must cease; and if imports cease, rev- 
enue will cease. We shall export this year, in cotton alone, near one 
hundred millions of dollars in value; this will form the basis of one 
hundred millions of dollars in goods imported. 

If the Government levies a duty of thirty-five per cent, on these, her 
revenue from this source alone will be thirty-five millions of dollars. 
Now, suppose we abstract this cotton from the exports, do we not see 
that we cut off' the imports to a like extent, and in cutting off the imports 
that we likewise cut off" the revenue? But seeing all this, says one, I do 
not yet perceive that you have shown how it is that the cotton grower 
pays the revenue. Go with me, if you please, a little further. Suppose 
my friend who sits before me, and who raises five hundred bales of 
cotton, shall ship that cotton, and himself dispose of it in Liverpool for 
twenty-five thousand dollars. Suppose he invests the money in mer- 
chandise and lands in New Orleans. The Government charges him a 
duty of thirty-fn e per cent, for the privilege of landing his goods. Now 
answer me this question, would it have been any worse for my friend to 
have been charged ihirly-live per cent, on the value of his cotton as he 
went out, with the privilege of bringing back has goods free of duty, than 
it would be to let him take his cotton five of charge and tax him thirty- 
five per cent, duty on the return cargo? For myself, I cannot see that 
it would make the lenst difference whether he paid as he went out, or 
as he came in. But I am told the planter does not bring back the pro- 
ceeds of his cotton. He sells it, and the importing merchanl brings hack 
the proceeds and pays the duty. Let it be borne in mind thai r\cv\ 
man who handles the cotton, from the moment ii leaves the planter until 
it comes back in the form of merchandise, handles it on speculation; 
and I should like to know which one of these speculators it is that loses 

the thirty-five per cent, which the Government collects. The Treasury 
receive^ the money; somebody pays ii ; and, in my judgment, thai some- 
body is the planter. The slaveholding States furnish two thirds of our 
entire exports, and if I am righl in this theory, tiny pay two thirds of 
the revenue, and consequently will pay two thirds, or nearly seven 
millions of the ten millions of dollars given to Texas for the territory of 
winch she has been so unjustrv despoiled. 

I beg pardon for this digression, and shall return at oner to the' subj ct 
before us. 

\\ hat compensation has been offered the South for her interest in all 
the vast territories derived from Mexico, for this spoliation of Texas, and 
tin' emancipation act in the District of Columbia? We are told that the 
North gave us the fugitive slave law. This, fellow-citizens, was our 
righl under the Constitution. It could not be refused. No man who 
had sworn to support th< C i could refusi to vote for an efficient 

law for the surrender of f Laves, unless he was willing to commit 

willful and d< liberzite pi rjury. 1 do not thank the Northfor passing the 



11 

fugitive slave law. I will not thank any man or any power for doling 
out to me my constitutional rights. If the North will execute the law in 
good faith, I shall think better of them as brethren and friends than I now 
do. Time will determine whether they will do this. 

These acts have passed. They are now on the statute books, and 
the question arises — shall we tamely submit to their operation, and if we 
resist, in what manner, and to what extent shall we carry that resistance Y 

I am not appalled by the cry of disunion, so often and so foolishly 
raised, whenever resistance is spoken of. There are things more terrible 
to me than the phantom of disunion, and one of these is tame sub- 
mission to outrageous wrong. If it 1ms really come to this, that the 
Southern States dare not assert and maintain their equal position in the 
Union, for fear of dissolving the Union, then I am free to say that the 
Union ought to be dissolved. If the noble edifice, erected by our fathers, 
has become so rickety, worm-eaten, and decayed, that it is in danger 
of falling every time the Southern States assemble to ask for justice, then 
the sooner it is pulled down the better. I am not so wedded to the 
name of Union as to remain in it until it shall fall and crush me. 

I have great confidence that the Government may be brought back to 
its original purity. I have great confidence that the Government will 
again be administered in subordination to the Constitution; that we shall 
be restored to our equal position in the Confederacy, and that our rights 
will again be respected as they wen 1 from 17S3 to 1819. Tins being- 
done, I shall be satisfied — nothing short of this will satisfy me. I can 
never consent to take a subordinate position. By no act or word of 
mine shnll the South ever be reduced to a state of dependence on the 
North. I will cling to the Union, and utter its praises with my last 
breath, but it must be a Union of equals ; it must be a Union in which 
mv State and my section is equal in rights to an}' other sect ion or State. 
I will not consent that the South shall become the Ireland of this country. 
Better, far, that we dissolve our political connection with the North than 
live connected with her as her slaves or vassals. The fathers of the 
Republic counselled us to live together in peace and concord, but these 
venerable sages and patriots never counselled us to surrender our equal 
position in the Union. By their lives, they gave us lessons in the horn- 
book of freedom. If Washington could speak to us to-day from the 
tomb, he would counsel us against submission. He resisted less flagrant 
acts of usurpation and tyranny, and took up arms against las King. 
The flatterers of royalty called this treason. If we resist the greater 
outrages, can we hope to escape the name oi trailer? 

Lei me say to von, in all sincerity, fellow-citizens, that 1 am no dis- 
unionist. If I know mv own heart, lam more concerned about the 
means of preserving the Union than I am about the means of destroying 
it. The danger is not that we shall dissolve the Union, by a bold and 
manly vindication of our rights; but rather thai we shall, in abandoning 
our rights, abandon the Union also. So help me God, I believe the sub- 
missionists are the very worst enemiesofthe Union. There is certainly 
some point beyond which the mosl abjeel will refuse to submit. II* we 
yield now, how long do you suppose it. will be before we shall be called 
upon to submit again"/ And does not every human experience admi 
us that the more we vield, the greater will become the exaction of tin 



12 

aggressors? To the man who thinks and says that we have been 
wronged, and yet submits in sullen silence, I can only say, you reason 
badly for the Union. But to the man who rejoices in the late action of 
Congress, who fires cannon, beats drums, and unfurls banners with 
mottoes of joy written on them — to such a man I can say, with a heart 
filled with sorrow, however well meant these acts may be, they invite 
aggression on our rights, and will lead to certain and inevitable dis- 
union. 

The best friend of the Union is he who stands boldly up and demands 
equal justice for every State and for all sections. If I have demanded 
more than this, convince me, and I will withdraw the demand. But I 
shall stand unawed by fear and unmoved by flattery in demanding for 
Mississippi the same justice that is meted out to the greatest and proudest 
State in the Confederacy. 

If the Union cannot yield to this demand, I am against the Union. 11 
the Constitution does not secure it, I am against the Constitution. I am 
for equal and exact justice, and against anything and everything which 
denies it. 

This justice was denied us in the "adjustment bills" which passed 
Congress. But we are not to infer that the fault was either in the Union 
or in the Constitution. The Union is strength, and if not wickedly 
diverted from its purposes, will secure us that justice and that domestic 
tranquillity which is our birthright. The Constitution is our shield and 
our buckler, and needs only to be fairly administered to dispense equal 
and exact justice to all parts of this great Confederacy. 

Has the South had justice in California? Have her rights been re- 
spected in any part of the territories ? Has she been fairly dealt with 
in the matter of the Texas boundary ? Was good faith observed in the 
passage of the anti-slavery bill for the District of Columbia ? Does the 
North exhibit a spirit of love, charity, good neighborhood and brotherly 
kindness in the perpetual warfare which she wages on our property V Is 
the Union now whal it was in 1783? Did our fathers frame a consti- 
tution and enter into a union which gave the right of aggression to one 
half the States, and obliged the other half to submit without a murmur ( 
Would Washington, and Jefferson, and Madison, have entered into such 
a anion with Adams, and Hancock, and Jay? To all these questions 
then- can be bul one answer, we all know. Every thinking, reasoning 
man knows, that in the war upon slavery, the Constitution and the 
I Fnion have been diverted from their original purposes. Instead of being 
shields againsl Lawless tyranny, they nave been made engines of op- 
pression to the South. And am [, a Southern citizen, to be deterred 
from saying so by this - cry of disunion ? Am 1 to see my 

isl rights taken from me, and my countrymen denied .-ill participa- 
tion in, or enjoymenl of the common property, and be afraid to .-peak? 
; I witro s the dismembermenl of a Southern State and a whole 
catalogue of wrongs, and fail to speak, leal the Union shall crumble and 
fall about my ears? 1 hope the Union is made of sterner stuff*, bul I 
am free to say, if the Union cannot withstand a demand for justic . I 
shall rejoice to see it t" II. 

1 ill demand my rights and the rights of my section, be the conse- 
quences what they may. It is the imperative duty of every good citizen 



13 

to maintain and defend the Constitution and the Union, and this can only 
be done by demanding and enforcing justice. Let us make this demand 
and let us enforce it, and let the consequences rest on the heads of those 
who violate the Constitution and subvert the Union in this war upon 
justice, equality, and right. 

We are told that our difficulties are at an end ; that unjust as we all 
know the late action of Congress to have been, it is better to submit, and 
especially is it better, since this is to be the end of the slavery agitation. If 
this were the end, fellow-citizens, I might debate the question as to whether 
submission would not be the better policy. Such is my love of peace, 
such my almost superstitious reverence for the Union, that I might be 
willing to submit if this was to be the end of our troubles. But I know 
it is not to be the end. I know it has not been the end thus far. What 
have we seen ? On the passage of all these bills through Congress, the 
North stood shocked and overawed at the enormity of the wrong done 
the South ; but Washington city rejoiced, Baltimore rejoiced, Richmond 
rejoiced. Instead of the thunder notes of resistance coming back upon 
the Capitol, we were greeted with songs and shouts, and the merry 
peals of hearts filled with joy. Seward, the abolition Senator from 
New York, encouraged by these indications, introduced a bill to abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia. It got only five votes. The North had 
not yet recovered from the shock which a glance at her own bold work 
had inflicted on her. After a few more days, the news of rejoicing at 
Louisville, at Augusta, and Nashville, came rolling back upon the wings 
of the lightning, and Seward asked another vote, and the result was 
nine in the affirmative. The cautious Dayton, and the still more cun- 
ning Winthrop, and men of that class, all the while protesting dial it 
was yet too soon to urge that measure. They saw and knew full well 
that the firing of cannon and beating of drums were empty signs. They 
judged, rightly, that no people rejoice in heart at their own degradation. 
But this rejoicing still went on; they fired the cannon, and beat the 
drums, and Hung out their banners all over the South — at Natchez and 
New Orleans, at Mobile and at Jackson, at Memphis and Montgomery. 
Not only were the Giddingses and the Sewards, the Chases, Hales and 
Kings, and all the enemies of the South, thus assured that there would 
be no resistance, but, in the echo of the booming cannon and in tin 
shrill notes of the merry file, they were assured that the South was 
filled with rejoicings and merry songs. What was the effect of all this? 
Why, fellow-citizens, the vote was taken in the House on the bill to abol- 
ish slavery out-and-out in the District of Columbia, and it gol fifty-two 
votes, and there were twenty-nine of its friends absent — the largest vote 
ever given in Congress on the direct proposition. Look al these thing-. 
Look to the fugitive slave law in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, and 
elsewhere. Look to the late extraordinary triumph of Seward in New 
York. Look to the success of the Free-Soilers in the. late elections. 
Listen to the notes of preparation everywhere in the Northern States, 
and tell me if men do not willfully deceive you when they say that the 
slavery agitation is over. I tell you, fellow-citizens, it is not. over. It 
never will be over so long as you continue to recede before the pressurt 
of Northern power. You cannot secure your rights; you cannol 
the Union or the Constitution, by following the timid counsels of the 



14 

Bubmissionists. Pursue these counsels, and they will lead to a sacrifice 
of all thai we hold dear — oflife, liberty, property, and the Union itself. 
By a submission you may secure, not a union, but a connection with the 
North, li will be such a connection us exists between [reland and 
England, Poland and Russia, Hungary and Austria. It will not, it 
cannol be the Union of our fathers — it cannot be a union of equals. 

You can save the Union, fellow-citizens, and you can do it by a stern 
resistance to wrong. 

! have >(^'n the Free-Soil elephant of the North. He is governed by 
the instincts of his species. He never crosses a bridge without first 
pressing it with his foot to see if it will sustain his ponderous frame. 
Make the bridge strong, and lie will cross, but let it be weak, and he 
will stay on his own side. If you want this Free-Soil elephant among 
you*, make the bridge strong, give him assurance of submission, convince 
him that lie may pass the gulf that divides you in safety, and he will 
come among you and destroy you. If you would keep him out, show 
him the yawning chasm, and convince him that if he attempts to cross 
he will be precipitated to the bottom, and, my life upon it, he will be 
content to remain at home. 

The North will inflict all that the South will bear, even to a final 
emancipation of the negro race. She will inflict nothing that you will 
not bear. 

I am detaining you, fellow-citizens, beyond the time which I allotted 
to myself; allow me to bring these remarks to a close. 

I am for resistance. 1 am for that sort of resistance which shall be 
effective and final. Speaking to you as a private citizen, I shall not 
h< >itate to express my individual opinions freely and fearlessly as to the 
best mode of resistance. I do not ask — I do not expect anv one to 
adopt my opinions. They are the result of my own best reflections, 
and they will not be abandoned, except to embrace others more likely 
to prove effective in practice. 

I approve of the Governor's convocation of the Legislature. The 
measure was called for by the emergencies of the hour, and was. in mv 
judgment, eminently wise and proper. 

I tn 1-1 the Legislature will order a convention of the Si ate. Give the 
people a chance to speak. Let the voice of the sovereign State be heard 
speaking through a regularly-organized convention, and il will command 
respect. Our bane has been our divisions. We never can unite as one 
man — our people are too much imbued with the early prejudices of their 
native homes. Congregated from all the States of the Union, and from 
many foreign countries, they nevercan unite on one common platform. 
Bui the majority can speak, and if that majority speaks through a con- 
vention Legally elected, its voice will silence dissension. It will be the 
voice of a sovereigntj — it will command respect 

V\ hal if three fourths of the people of Mississippi are for resistance, 
the other fourth makes as loud a noise, and their voice sounds as Large 
in New York or Massachusetts. What if five sixths of yom- delegation 
in ( Songress have spoken the sentimenl of the State, the other sixth has 
protested thai he speaks the voice of the State. Lei the people speak! 
Lei them speak thi gh the ballot-box. Let a convention be called, and 
through thai convention, let us speak the w nrt imentsofthe sovereign State. 



15 

I should hope that such a movement in Mississippi would be responded 
to in most, if not all the southern States. I should have great confidence 
that South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, would meet us on 
a common platform, and resolve with us to stand or fall together. 

I speak with great deference, but with the utmost freedom as to what 
course Mississippi and the other Stales should pursue. I speak for 
myself alone, and no man or party is in any way responsible for what 
I say. 

We should demand a restoration of the laws of Texas in Itac verba 
over the country which has been taken from her and added to New 
Mexico. In other words, we should demand the clear and undisputed 
right to carry our slave property to that country, and have it protected 
and secured to us after we get it there; and we should demand a con- 
tinuation of this right and of this security and protection. 

We should demand the same right to go into all the Territories with 
our slave property, that citizens of the free States have to go with any 
species of property, and we should demand for our property the same 
protection that is given to the property of our Northern brethren. No 
more, nor less. 

We should demand that Congress abstain from all interference with 
slavery in the Territories, in the District of Columbia, in the States, on 
the high seas, or anywhere else, except to give it protection, and this 
protection should be the same that is given to other property. 

We should demand a continuation of the present fugitive slave law, 
or some other law which should be effective in carrying out the mandate 
of the Constitution for the delivery of fugitive slaves. 

We should demand that no State be denied admission into the Union, 
because her constitution tolerated slavery. 

In all this we should ask nothing but meagre justice; and a refusal 
to grant such reasonable demands would show a lixed and settled pur- 
pose in the North to oppress and finally destroy the Southern States. If 
the demands here set forth, and such others as would most effectually 
secure the South against further disturbance, should be denied, and 
that denial should be manifested by any act of the Federal Govern- 
ment, we ought forthwith to dissolve all political connection with the 
Northern States. 

If the Southern States, in convention, will lay down this or some other 
platform equally broad and substantial, and plant themselves upon it, I 
know there are hundreds and thousands of good men and true at the 
North, who will take positions with them, and stand by them to the hist. 
In the present condition of our counsels, we can never expect support 
from the North. Distracted and divided at home and in Congress, those 
at the North who are disposed to aid us, are lefl in doubt as to which i." 
the true Southern side of the question. Suppose Mr. Dallas, Mr. Paul- 
ding, or some other friend of the South, should undertake our defence, 
would he not be met. with language like this: "Look at Clay, look at 
Benton, look at Houston, look al hundreds in the South — listen to the 
roar of their cannon and the music of their drums, and do you, sir, pre- 
tend to know more of Southern rights than the South knows of her own 
rights." What could our Northern friends say to a, speech like this? 
No, fellow-citizens, no! Do not place your friends at the North in this 



16 

condition. Erect a platform on which they may stand and fight your 
battles lor you. When the Free-Soiler points to the Clays, the Bentons, 
iln- Houston?, and others, enable your friends to point to Mississippi and 
Georgia, and Alabama, and South Carolina, assembled in conventions. 
And when the Free-Soiler appeals to the cannon roaring and the drums 
beating, Lei your friends appeal to the voice of sovereign States demanding 
justice, equality, and liberty on the one side, or disunion on the other. 

If I hesitate to embrace the doctrine of disunion, it is because the 
North has, to some extent, been inveigled into her present hostile posi- 
tion towards the South by our own unfaithful Representatives, and 
encouraged to persevere in the mad policy by the ill-advised conduct of 
s< »me • >t < >ur own people. A portion of the Southern Senators and Repre- 
sentatives voted for the admission of California, and large numbers 
sustained the Texas spoliation bill. The whole advantages of these 
measures inured to the benefitof the North, and we could not reasonably 
expect Northern men to do more for us than our own Representatives. 
We have great reason to complain of the North, but we have much 
greater reason to complain of our own unfaithful servants. The North 
is deceived as to the true condition of Southern sentiment, but they have 
been deceived by our own people. Let us undeceive them. Let us 
prepare to strike for justice, equality, liberty. But let us first give fair 
winning, and let that warning be given in an authentic and authoritative 
form. Let us do this, and if then we are forced to strike, we shall be 
sustained by all good men, we shall be sustained by God, and our own 
clear consciences. 

These are my opinions, fellow-citizens, freely expressed. Idonol ask 

to sanction them or to adopt them as your own, unless you approve 

them. I have but one motive, and that is to serve my afflicted country. 

Wholly and entirely Southern in my sentiments and feelings, 1 have 

never debated Jtyith myself what course it were best for me to pursue. 

: )it ion mighl have Led me to the North, but as I loved the Land of my 

birth more than the honors and emoluments of power and of place, I 

have taken sides with the South. Her destiny shall be my destiny. If 

rids, I will stand by her, and if she falls, I will fall with her. 

Printed at the Globe Office, Washington. 



146 



II 






o 



. , •. • 



v v <,'».»* .G v 

<0. 








^ °o <** ,C^ ** G° . 

"*b 












